Riding High
(Capra) (co);
The Jackie Robinson Story
(Green);
When I Grow Up
(Kanin)

1951

M
(Losey);
The Well
(Popkin and Rouse);
Mutiny
(Dmytryk)

1952

The First Time
(Tashlin);
The Trio: Rubenstein, Heifetz, and Piatigorsky
(
Million Dollar Trio
) (Dassin);
Three for Bedroom "C"
(Bren);
The Lady in the Iron Mask
(Murphy);
The Star
(Walker);
Stalag 17
(Wilder);
The Steel Trap
(Stone)

Publications

By LASZLO: articles—

"Speaking of Film," in
Business and Home TV Screen
(New York), March 1978.

On LASZLO: articles—

Rowan, Arthur, on
The Steel Trap
in
American Cinematographer
(Hollywood), November 1952.

On
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
in
American Cinematographer
(Hollywood), December 1963.

American Cinematographer
(Hollywood), January 1965.

On
Fantastic Voyage
in
American Cinematographer
(Hollywood), February 1966.

Land, Kevin, on
Star
in
American Cinematographer
(Hollywood), March 1969.

Film Comment
(New York), Summer 1972.

Focus on Film
(London), no. 13, 1973.

Obituary in
Variety
(New York), 18 January 1984.

Obituary in
American Cinematographer
(Hollywood), March 1984.

Film Dope
(Nottingham), November 1985.

* * *

A superior craftsman and technician, Ernest Laszlo belonged to a
generation of cameramen trained by the master cinematographers of the
silent era. He became a director of photography towards the end of the
traditional Hollywood studio system, and tended to work with strong
directors who brought a new realism to the commercial American cinema.
Robert Aldrich, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, Fritz Lang, and Stanley
Kramer generally functioned as their own bosses, on the set if not in the
final edit, and they dealt with reality in their films rather than
Hollywood fantasy. Laszlo painted their naturalistic visions on celluloid
with dramatic lighting and a detached eye. He possessed an almost Germanic
style, influenced in part by the German cinema of the 1920s, and
throughout his career was rarely required to shoot romantically pretty
pictures.

Like William Clothier and Russel Harlan, Laszlo was an assistant cameraman
on William Wellman's aviation classic
Wings
, part of an army of cinematographers under the supervision of Harry
Perry. Laszlo participated on the aerial photography, and also worked on
the celebrated Folies Bergère tracking shot. He was an assistant on
another aerial epic, Howard Hughes's
Hell's Angels
, along with such talented cameramen as Edward Snyder, Paul Ivano, and
Henry Cronjager, with camera crew again headed by Harry Perry. Laszlo
photographed a few low-budget B-movies, and some comedy shorts for Al
Christie, then joined Paramount as a camera operator. He operated for
cinematographers Karl Struss, David Abel, Charles Lang, and Leo Tover
through the 1930s, and was finally promoted to director of photography by
the director John Farrow on
The Hitler Gang
and
Two Years Before the Mast
. They are dark, brooding, atmospheric films, and earned Laszlo
recognition for his mastery of low-key lighting. He introduced a new style
of cinematography at
Paramount. By eliminating most of the fill light, he achieved a more
realistic look instead of the usual soft, glossy Paramount visuals.

Laszlo carried his style over to some of the most memorable
films noirs. D.O.A.
, directed by the former cameraman Rudolph Maté, is a fine example,
the seedy underworld perfectly captured by Laszlo's
chiaroscuro
lighting and fluid camera. Joseph Losey's
M
, a remake of the Fritz Lang classic, was also effectively photographed,
following the outline of the original but updated to reflect the paranoia
of the early 1950s through dark tones.
Manhandled
, directed by Lewis Foster, contains a fascinating expressionistic dream
sequence that overshadows the mediocre film.

Billy Wilder's
Stalag 17
was treated in a realistic manner, its story of a German prison camp
during the Second World War evoked with stark Laszlo cinematography.
Again, the low-key lighting and the documentary style were uncommon in
major studio Hollywood at the time, and the film's success proved
that movies did not have to be candy-coated to work with audiences. For
Fritz Lang, Laszlo shot the thriller
While the City Sleeps
, and gave the lurid tale a more subtle lighting to downplay the seamy
material.

Laszlo had a productive relationship with Robert Aldrich, photographing
the westerns
Apache
,
Vera Cruz
,
The Last Sunset
, and
Four for Texas
, all in color, and the black-and-white dramas
Kiss Me Deadly
,
The Big Knife
, and
Ten Seconds to Hell
.
Apache
and
Vera Cruz
used beautiful locations and reveal a strong sense of landscape;
The Last Sunset
is equally effective although a modern-day western, but
Four for Texas
is disappointing Rat Pack hijinks.
Kiss Me Deadly
and
The Big Knife
are brilliantly photographed, cynical, latter-day
noir
. Laszlo cited
Kiss Me Deadly
as his best black-and-white work, with its reliance on actual locations.

Laszlo also contributed outstanding black-and-white photography to Stanley
Kramer's
Inherit the Wind
,
Judgment at Nuremberg
, and
Ship of Fools
. Each has a claustrophobic setting (courtrooms and an ocean liner), and
Laszlo was called upon to make great use of closeups to accentuate the
drama. The Kramer films are presented in a documentary-like fashion, with
Laszlo utilizing deep grays and blacks in keeping with the somber
dramatics.

Ernest Laszlo helped bring realism to the American cinema through his
naturalistic cinematography, breaking down the barriers imposed by the
glamour-conscious studios of the 1940s. He was fortunate to work with
directors willing to suspend the usual high-key lighting effects in order
to create genuine settings, and fused a new and practical form of
photography for motion pictures.

—John A. Gallagher

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